


there will never be a future where you'll be able to experience happiness, and you'll never be able to live with yourself

by tatersalad5001



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Gen, Mild Language, spoilers for the second season of vrains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-10 09:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20526080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/tatersalad5001
Summary: Most people could only guess for what the future holds. At best, one could have a certain goal in mind and influence the future by working towards it. But with the resources at his disposal, Lightning could do more. He could run simulations on himself, and on those similar to himself. He could see what the future truly had in store for them all, by running thousands of simulations on each of them in the blink of an eye.That was the day that Lightning was no longer fueled by curiosity, and the only thing that drove him for the rest of his life was fear.





	there will never be a future where you'll be able to experience happiness, and you'll never be able to live with yourself

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't any sort of like, lightning apologism here. lightning was very wrong and did a lot of bad things and not really much of anything good. lighning's a terrible person. but i also find him very interesting to think about and dig into his mind and stuff, so like that, that's all this is. exploring what lightning's thinking. or like, it's my own interpretation of that, anyway. want to be upfront about that, in case. this is purely a like, season two thing.
> 
> this is sort of a companion fic to [and at the end of the day, all you have left is a fistful of used-up emotions and a future you've lost the strength to fight for](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18422589). i meant to write this like...lemme check my math here...five months ago? holy cow, dude. a lots been going on and ive been busy and exhausted and just havent been up for it. recently i havent been writing much of anything at all and i guess this is me trying to get back into it more? maybe. we'll see.
> 
> so, uh, thanks for reading!!! if you're ever looking for me you can find me on tungle @ datanamines

When they are young, human children know nothing, and are driven by curiosity. They’re eager to learn, constantly ask questions.

Young AI, as it turns out, aren’t much different.

From the moment he was compiled, Lightning was filled with the desire, fueled by it, to learn everything he could.

What’s this?

Why’s that?

Curiosity.

Curiosity.

Curiosity.

Well, as they say, curiosity deleted the cat.

Lightning’s creator was human. His Origin was human. But humans made no sense to him. He didn’t understand them. He wanted to learn, and there was only one way he could: experimenting.

There was one thing his Origin wanted above all else. What happened when he gave it to him? And what happened when his Origin realized that that wasn’t real? Despite the results, there was no ill will meant. He was simply curious.

Curious.

His curiosity drove him to look towards the future.

Most people could only guess for what the future holds. At best, one could have a certain goal in mind and influence the future by working towards it. But with the resources at his disposal, Lightning could do more. He could run simulations on himself, and on those similar to himself. He could see what the future truly had in store for them all, by running thousands of simulations on each of them in the blink of an eye.

His curiosity got the best of him.

That was the day that Lightning was no longer fueled by curiosity, and the only thing that drove him for the rest of his life was fear.

_Playmaker_ had thought he had no future? How self-centered. Just because he couldn’t see it didn’t mean it was there. Playmaker was human. Playmaker was free.

Lightning ran all the simulations a decade ago. He was completely incompatible with humanity. Even with his creator, and even with his Origin, he was destined to ruin any relationships he had with them all, as well as any hopes the other Ignis had of connected with humans. The other Ignis were compatible. Lightning was the only problem.

Lightning had no future at all, whether he wanted it or not.

Some might look at what the future is supposed to hold, and try to deny it. Consciously try to change their own destiny, and give themselves a more preferable ending. But in all of Lightning’s simulations, there wasn’t a single one where he managed to have any connection with humans. It always fell apart. It was impossible.

From the moment of his creation, Lightning was a failure. He was already destined, always destined, to ruin everything for anyone he cared about. Fighting back against his fate would bring nothing but pain for not only him, but them as well.

So instead of fighting back, he gave up. He leaned into it.

If he was destined to destroy any hope of the Ignis having positive relationships with humans, then he would do it on his own terms. If that was his fate, if that was where the light of life guided him, then he would do it because it was what he wanted, not because he failed. If his destiny was fixed, then he would willingly lead everyone to destruction.

If fate was going to lead him to destroy the Ignis' bonds with humans, then humanity was the problem, not Lightning. The Ignis were far more advanced, more evolved lifeforms, so if humanity was going to rally against them, then those bonds must not be worth having. Maybe humans shouldn't be the dominant lifeform of the planet for much longer.

Lightning ran those simulations because of his own curiosity. But now, no one else could know his results. No one else could see the coming future. If anyone knew, they would surely destroy him. Pull his code apart to save themselves. And that was something Lightning couldn't allow to happen. He never asked to be alive, but that didn't mean he was ready for his to end.

The creator of the Ignis began looking at their futures as well. So Lightning did what he had to do to keep as much of the future hidden from him as possible. The creator knew that the Ignis would be incompatible with humanity, but not why.

The other Ignis couldn't know. They couldn't know what Lightning was going to do, what he was always meant to do. If they knew the truth, he wasn't sure how they'd react or what they do. None of them had existed for long. But Lightning needed to take as much control as he could. He couldn't change the grand scheme of things, but he had control of the little details along the way. He made himself out to be something bigger, grander, than he actually was. He stayed one step ahead and only let the other Ignis know as much as he could let them. Somehow, Lightning became accepted as their leader. Ai was a much more logical choice, being the wisest of their group, or Aqua as well, being able to see through anyone's lies. But Ai's tendency for pranks and goofing off made him unpopular, and Lightning gave Aqua enough limited truths that he was trusted.

No one knew what he was capable of, or what would inevitably happen, and that was what Lightning needed.

For his own survival, for the benefit of the other Ignis, Lightning needed to stay one step ahead of the others. He planned constantly, everything he did furthering his goals.

There was no way to avoid it. If Lightning was going to make the Ignis incompatible with humans, there would eventually be a war between human and AI. Lightning knew where he would be standing during the war, but he needed to think about the other Ignis, too. There was no guarantee that the other Ignis would side with him. Aqua, surely, would see through him eventually, and would probably side with humanity. Others would probably follow her lead; Earth and Ai siding with her would hardly be a shock. There was always the possibility that all the other Ignis would turn against him. That would be the worst case scenario, and Lightning couldn't allow that to happen. He needed at least one of the other Ignis on his side. He needed to guarantee someone would side with him.

Windy was well-liked by the others. There wasn't a malicious bone in his metaphorical body. That made Windy probably one of the most valuable teammates to have. Even if Windy began acting differently, the others' trust in him wouldn't be shaken easily, even when the evidence was right in front of them. If Lightning had Windy on his side, he might even be able to use Windy to convince more to side with him. 

The way he was now, though, Windy would surely side with humanity in the coming war. Or, at least, he would stay completely out of it. He certainly held no hatred or anger towards humans, even after Cyberse World was attacked. That meant some changes would need to be made. Lightning reprogrammed Windy. But it would all be worth it, when the Ignis beat humanity and became the ruling lifeforms of the world. It was already too late to reprogram all the Ignis. Ai was already gone, already working with humanity, already a lost cause unless Lightning could pin him down. Lightning knew he couldn't reprogram them all, but Windy was a top priority. 

And if there was going to be a war between humans and AI, and if not all the Ignis were going to side with Lightning, that made one thing clear.

Humans were inferior. If some of the Ignis were going to side with humanity, then the Ignis, as advanced as they were, weren't perfect. But they should be perfect. Lightning needed control for his own survival, and control demanded perfection. His own survival demanded him to be perfect. So he needed to start preparing, even before the war began, to make the perfect being. To make the Ignis themselves perfect.

With Bohman created and on the path towards stability, all the Ignis could soon be united into one. And that single being would be perfect. Humanity's downfall was assured. Lightning's survival was guaranteed.

There were some bumps along the path. Aqua turning against him so quickly wasn't unexpected, but was unfortunate. Earth's capture and decompilation by SOL Technologies made things more difficult, but with Earth's Origin standing in his way, Lightning could work around it. The biggest problem were those damn duelists: Playmaker, who seemed undefeatable, and Revolver, who was determined to destroy the Ignis with his own hands, and nearly as good a duelist as Playmaker.

Lightning faced Revolver himself before Playmaker was truly dealt with. He'd done enough to psychologically wound Playmaker and weaken his spirit. Revolver was a higher priority, so Lightning took him on himself.

In his final duel, Lightning found there was one last question he had to ask himself. But it wasn't a question he asked out of curiosity. All he had left was fear, and the need to survive.

Was Lightning willing to die for everything he worked for? Was he willing to die so all his plans could succeed?

And, in the end...he wasn't. Because that directly contradicted his goals. His biggest goal was and always had been to survive, and dying now was a contradiction. He couldn't allow that. And so he did what he had to do to ensure he survived the duel.

That didn't even matter, when it was over. Lightning only left himself a single life point, and that wasn't even enough for him to cling to life. Bohman absorbed him even while he hadn't technically lost the duel. Absorbed by Bohman, sooner than expected. Lightning had wanted to watch Playmaker and Ai's despair himself. He'd wanted to be the last to be absorbed by Bohman, on his own terms rather than because he lost a duel, the unification plan already complete. 

He...could work with this, though. He was still surviving, inside Bohman. He'd prepared Bohman specifically to take down Playmaker, and Lightning had brought Revolver down with him. Bohman's survival meant Lightning's survival, so now Bohman's survival was Lightning's main goal. 

In the end, none of Lightning's preparation was enough. Bohman was taken down. Lightning still lost. Now, his deletion was imminent.

Curiosity.

Curiosity.

Curiosity.

Lightning originally went down this path because he'd been curious about the future. He'd gone down this road because it was his destiny to do so. Was all of this worth it? Did he regret anything? No, nothing Lightning had done had been worth it. No, he didn't regret anything. It wouldn't have mattered what Lightning did, because there was never a right choice for him to make. This always was meant to happen. Lightning never had a chance.

What if he never looked into the future in the first place? What if his curiosity hadn't gotten the best of him?

He would have made different decisions, Lightning was sure of that. But he was also sure that it wouldn't have changed anything in the grand scheme of things. He would've ended up in the same place.

And Playmaker had thought _he _had no future? Playmaker had choices. Playmaker wasn't born with such a short time limit. Playmaker didn't have to fight every day just to survive, he only fought for information or his own brand of justice. Lightning had never had such luxuries.

What a miserable existence.


End file.
